Starting gate



O. BLAKE STARTING GATE 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 1l, 1947 April 24, 1951' Filed March ll, 1947 BLAKE STARTING GATE 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR.

or running start..

Patented Apr. 24, 1951 STARTING GATE Qotavelake, PlainiieldtN. -L Application March-11, 1947", Serial-No. 783,845

This invention relates. to,- a starting .barrier or starting gate for equally aligning contestants at the start` of competitions .of speed. The broad principle of .the intention is subject to numerous modication and adaptations but for the sake of .clarity the invention will be described in one .of its modincations as employed in aligning the contestants at the. start of harness or sullsy races.

Thepresent methods employed .at the start of contests Vof speed lode the locating of. a conf testant an arable position, making it necessary vfor the eontestant to overoorne the inertia .of starting and. allowing other eontestants to te in. more fayoralole positions at the actual instant of the start, because oi the 'possible der eroe of their relaxed or tensed. att udes.: Siieh contests of sneed are not true speed contests .biit are the sum. of the time, involving the yrate of speed :required to overcome the inertia .of start ing, the rate of .speed required to assume a pare titular .starting position, and subsequently the rate of speed reeuired te travel across a .speciied distance.

In order to :overcomey the retarding or slowing effect of the .actual start of a contest of speed. some contests. such as trotting, harnessor sulky racing .and -ai1tomobleraeing employ a moving `In contests employing the moving-.or a. run-ning start, considerable .difficulty is encountered in 'properly aligning the contest,- ants :as they actually cross the starting line. Thus a fast .starting contestant may be giyen an Vapparent advantage by being slightly ahead of the balance of the contestants traveling at a slower rate of speed Yat the insta-nt Ythat the starting line is crossed. The slower rfr'ateof speed of a contestant may be .caused `by -a retarding of the contestants actual speed in fan Aeffort -to allo-w the balance of the contestants to come into a substantial alignment. A slow starting vcon-.-` testant may 'be at an apparent disadvantage in being .slightly behind the .contestants but, at the instant of crossing the starting `line the fslow starting contestant may be tranelingat a greater speed than the balance .of .the contestants. In this latter case, `the increased speed of ythis contestant may he caused by his increasing ihis .speed to come into a substantial alignment with the balai-loe o f the contestants.

It vtlnls be apparent :that at the instant of crossing the starting iine eontestant be placed at a .disadvantage the .trailing contestant may obtain a deiinite advantage,

.For the above and lother reasons. jthe starter .t o1eims (o1. naaien etratio fesait, Other ii1...-u tissent .inetii fi.. and in t .inglese testant by the ,starter of the rato- It is obioot oi the Present invention to provide, o more estable alignment of the tesiants at. tile start si Contests oi Snoed- It is .another otieot of tno invention to eiinif nate the restarting oi oontesis .of sneed.-

It is a .farther ooieot of the .invention to .Sets st tialiy reiiiioe at tno start 0f a' tostanis advantages over th oi anothot- Tnealoovo and other obieo and advent@ es oi the invention will be @Pratesi from thoioli detailed iiosoristion with referente to aoooinranyine drawings Wiiioh;

Figure 1 is a top View of a Vnischarrieallt1 oper-.- .ateo starting ooi/ite neon. automobile trailer aooordine to tno invention,

,Figure is a rear view oi the device oi .Figaro i as viewed by the ooniestants at the start oi .contest of sneed.

Figure 2A .Shows the .trailer and Starting b rior attaohed to a .Seli-propelled aliton vehicle:

Figure 2B .star-ting. earner aooording to .ne intention dineotly mounted rtroon a .selfi-I er-opolled automotive vehicle;

.Rigore .3 is a ton view .oi the devioe of Figure l with the seat and floor removed..

Figure 4 is a ,sectional view of tno novios oi .2 taken along the line 4?..4 of Figure Figure 5 inodioation of the nieoiiaf -aooordine to Eis-uro .Figure t6 is a .seotion oi a portion of. fino teiesoopio arms foi Figaro ,i one of the ioints.-

Figure '1 illustrates sostenne neefniinioralsientiiytnesamenants tiiroiigiiout .oiiierentfriews of the drawings..

The starting barrier or starting gate according to the invention comprises essentially one r more telescoping arms, mechanism for retracting subsequent sections of the telescoping arms Within each other and a movable carrier, such as a trailer 26, Figure 2A, or an automotive vehicle 20', Figure 2B, to which the telescoping arm and mechanism may be attached. Y

Referring more specifically to the drawings, there isshown in Figures l and Zan automobile trailer 23 having a suitable trailer hitch 2| and adapted with a portion 22 in which is provided a seat 23. The portion 22 is provided with a iioor 24 vwhich also serves as a cover for the oper-- ating mechanism later to be described.

The trailer hitch 2| is adapted for engagement with a movable means such` as an automotive vehicle truck or the like, as shown in Figure 2A. 'I'he trailer is provided With the conventional pneumatic tired wheelsA 25 and may be provided Vwithfa' loud speaker 26 which is part of a public `address system (not shown) for instructing the contestants during the start of the contest.

` Attached to the rear of the trailer and at the proper height, with respect to the contestants, is ya, telescoping arm 3i] consisting of an outside tube 3l Which is attached to the back of the trailer by lbracketsV or by welding and intertting tubes 32,

3 3, 34, 35 and an interiitting central core or,

tube l36.

` The core or tube 36 is provided at its outer vend with a disc or stop 31 of sunicient diameter 'toentirely cover the ends of the tubes 32, 33, 34, 35- 3,6 and being of -suiiicient diameter to serve Tas a vstop against the end of the tube 3|. In a similar manner and located slightly below the tube 3| there is also secured horizontally to the back of the trailer 26 a telescoping arm 30' consisting of a tube 3| having an identical set of intertting tubes 32', 33', 34', 35', and an iden- -l tical center core 36 and stop 3l. The telescop- 'ing tube assembly 30 is mounted horizontally on the back of the trailer 23 in such a manner that 'the intertting telescoping tube and core arrangementcan be extended to the right and the telescopin'g'tube arrangement 30 is mounted horizontally von, the back of the trailer 20 in such a manner that it can be extended to the left. Alterfna'tively, the telescoping arms may be directly mounted upon the rear of the vehicle 20', as 'shown in AFigure 2B.

' The-telescoping tube assemblies 30 and 30 can Ybe' chosen of such a length and number of sec- 'tions as to'extend completely across the racing track and thus, if placed at the proper height on lthe back of the trailer or vehicle, they will serve as a barrier for the contestants. It will be apparent that the telescopic tube can be extended to any. desired distance less than the maximum extension of the telescoping arms, i. e. if'the starting barrier is used on a wide track the armsmayneed to be extended to their maximum extension, and if the starting barrier is used on a narrow track the armsmay be extended to just the amount required. It Will also be apparent that if only a'few contestants are engaged in the race, or if the track is narrow, only the extension of one telescoping arm would be required. Thus, the length of the barrier can be adjusted in accordance with the width of the track or the number of contestants.

The telescoping arm assembly 30 is mounted horizontally on the trailer in such a manner that theright end of the arm assembly is substantially flush with the right side of the trailer when the lvided at the right end of the tubes.

tally in the slot 4|, and journalled in suitable bearings, there is provided a pulley Wheel 42. Similarly, the telescoping tube assembly 3U' is mounted horizontally in such a manner that when the tubes are telescoped the left end of the tubes will be substantially iiush with the left side of the trailer 20 and also that a space 4U is pro- There is also provided a horizontal slot 4|' extending "through the back end of trailer and a similarly l journalled pulley wheel 42.

The telescoping arms 30 and 33' when extended mayl be required to reach substantially across the track and may thus be required to cover a distance' of the order of 80 to 100 feet, `and when so extended the ends of the arms may sag slightly because of the weight thereof; furthermore such a sag or bending of the arms may increase the friction of the telescoping tube sections 3l to 36 and 3| to 36', thus making it diiicult to retract the arms. The sagging eiect of the arms can be compensated for by attaching the tubes 3| and 3| slightly out of the horizontal position with the extending ends slightly elevated.

In order to overcome the friction encountered by the bending of the extending tubes there is shown in Figure 6 a typical section joint employing ball'bearing sliding portions. The outside tube 33 has attached to the inside at the right end a ball bearing 45 secured to the tube 33 by welding, brazing, or the like. Steel balls 46 -of the ball bearing are adapted to engage the outside of tube 34 so that, as the tube 34 is extended or retracted Within the tube 33, the balls 46 of the ball bearing will roll, thus reducing the sliding friction. In a similar manner the left end of tube 34 is provided with a ball bearing 4l secured to the tube34 and having balls 48 adapted to engage the inside surface of the tube 33, thus reducing the sliding friction. Internally within the tube'33 there is provided a stop ring 43 secured to the' inside of the tube 33 and adapted to restrict the outward extension by engagement with the ball bearing 41 attached to the tube 34. A similar stop and similar ball bearings may be provided Within the ends of the sliding tubes 3| to 35, and 3| to 35.

Extending through the center of the tubes 3| to 35 there is provided a flexible cable 50 one end of which is attached to the inside end of the core 36, and the other end of which passes around the pulley wheel 42 and subsequently to the rewind mechanism. In a similar manner, anexible cable 50 passes through the center of tubes 3| to 35 and is secured to the inside end of core 36' passing around pulley 42 and subsequently to the rewind mechanism.

It will be apparent that, as the cable 50 is rewound on the rewind mechanism, later to be described, the end of the cable attached to the inside end of the core 36 will be withdrawn toward the trailer 20 and will retract the core 36 into the tube 35 until the end disc 3l' engages the end of the tube 35, that the tube 35 thereafter on further movement of the cable will be retracted into the tube 34, tube 34 will be retracted into tube 33, tube 33 Will be retracted into tube 32, and finally tube 32 will be retracted into tube 3|, until the end disc 31 is substantially iiush with the right side of the trailer 29 inthe direction of movement thereof. In a similar manner, the rewinding of the flexible cable 59 will retract the core` 3.6.- and the tubes 3.5 to 32 into tube 3|', until the. disc 3.1 is substantially flush withy the left Side, of the trailer. rFile pulling or reeling in of the flexible cable 59 and 5D can be accom- @lished in a number of ways, even manually, as l will be readily understood. y @ne mechanical method which gives satisfacl tory results is shown in Figures, 3 and 4, wherein thetelescoping arms 59 and 30 have been omitted for the sake of clarity in describing the rewind mechanism. The flexible cable 59, shown in the lower left hand corner of` Figure 3, passes around the horizontal pulley 42 as previously described, rand thence in a horizontal plane to and around apulley 5,5 which is journalled on a shaft flxedly attaelied to the side wall of the trailer 29. Pulley 55` islocated in such a manner that the cable 55 passes over its top and that the center line ofthe cable is exactly horizontal as it passes around pulley' 42. Also mounted on the side wall of the trailer 29 is a pivoting pulley assembly 55 having a hollQlW support member 51 nXedly attached to the side wall of the such a manner that the center line of the cable 5.8 as it passes around the pulley 55 is -parallel with the hollow portion of the support member 51. J ournalled on the hollow support member 51 is. a hollow pulley bracket 58. This bracket is rotatably mounted on support member 51 in such a` manner that the hollow portions coincide. Attached to the bracket 58 in rotatable engagement,

there is prov1ded a pulley wheel 59so positioned that the groove is tangent to the hollow portion in the bracket member 5,8 and the bracket support member 51. Y

` The pulley assembly 55 is positioned on the side wall of the trailer 29 so that the hollow portions i of 51 and 58 are vertical and tangent to the groove of pulley 55 and so that cable 59 will pass from pulley 55 directly through the hollow portions of the bracket support member 51, the bracket 58, and around pulley 59. A similar swivel pulley arrangement 6.2 is mounted on a movable bar 63. Thev pulley assembly 52 is comprised of a hollow support member 55; a hollow bracket member 65, and a grooved pulley 66. The pulley assembly'62. is mounted on bar 63 in such a manner that the hollow portions of the bracket member 65 and support member 95 are tangent to and vertically located above rewind drum 88 later to be described. The flexible cable 59 passes around and under pulley 59, over and around pulley 66, through the hollow in the bracket 95 and support member 64, and through a hole 61 provided in sliding bar 63.

' The rewind drum 89 is suitably supported on a shaft rotatably journalled on support member 8 l and a similar support member (-not shown). Th'e rewind drum 8|) is provided with a groove 82 spirallycut in the surface of the drum being of a size sumcient to accommodate the cable 50. One end ofv the cable 59, as previously described, isattached to segment 36 of the telescoping arm 30. The other end of the cable is attached to the groovein the rewind drum by welding, clamping, or the like as at 89. The rewind drum 89 is iixedly, mounted on a shaft 8d one end of which has` attached thereto a disc portion 85 of a frictiondrive. As is well known, the face of the friction. disc may be covered with a resilient surface 86, composed of leather or thelike.

Mountedon the rewind drum 80 is a ring gear dal.adapted,toengage a smaller gear'- 88a Gear 88 trailer 29 and positioned in is xedly attached. to a threadedl Shaft 3.9, journailed to support members 9| and 92,. The threaded sha-ft 89 passes through a threadedportion 93 of the movable bar 63.V `The movable bar 63 is. held in proper operating position by bars 94 and 95 which pass through the movable bar 63, andare attached to support members 9| and 92. The threaded portion of the shaft 89 is provided with threads of a suflicient pitch to maintain the .hollow portions of pulley assembly 62 directly over the groove 82 in the rewind drum, takingr into consideration the gear reduction obtained by gear ring 81 and small gear 89. Y

As the rewind drum is rotated in an anti-clockwise direction, gear ring 81 will also rotatein. an anti-clockwise direction and thus rotate small gear 88 aiiixed; to threaded shaft 89 in a clockwise direction. It will also be apparent that because of the threaded portion 93 engaging and cooperating with the threaded portion of shaft 139., that as the shaft 89 is rotated in a clockwise direction, the support bar 53 will move along the guide bars 94 and 95 toward the ring gear 81. 'lh-us, the cable 55 will be continuously placed directly over the groove 82 inthe rewind drum 80.

It will be apparent that as the sliding bar 63, having attached thereto pulley assembly 62, is moved toward the gear ring 81, the relationship between the pulley assembly 55 and pulley assembly 62 will be continuously changed but, because of the fact that the pulley 59 and pulley 56 are in a swiveling position and also because of the fact that the flexible cable passes through the actual swivel support, the pulley 59 and the pulley 5 5 will always be parallel andin an operatingl relation.

The rewind drum 89 is rotated by engagement of the other half 96 of the friction clutch 85. The

friction disc 96 is keyed to, but slidingly mounted i on shaft 91 to which is xedly attached sprocket wheel 98. The sprocket wheel 98 is driven by sprocket chain 99 through sprocket wheel |09, attached to the shaft ||l| of motor |02. The motor |82 is driven by electric power supplied from batteries |93 through wire |84.. A suitable switch (not shown) for starting or stopping the motor |92 may be located convenient to the starter or operator of the equipment.

The friction disc 96 is provided with a groove |95 in which is provided a yoke |99 attached to arod or shaft i9 which may be pivotally mounted at The top portion of the rod or shaft extends through the floor-of` the trailer and can be seen in Figure 1. The top end of the shaft or rod- ||19 is bent over to form a handle for more convenient operation of the friction disc 95. If the handle of the rod or shaft H9 is urged in a direction toward the seat 23 of the trailer as seen in Figure l, the opposite end of the rod will be urged in the opposite direction because of pivot bearing and thus the yoke |99 around the friction disc 96 will urge this disc into engagement with the surface 85 of friction disc 85 thus causing the rewind drum 88- to rotate when the motor 02 is in operation. If the motor and sprocket |99 travels in an anti-clockwise direction, the rewind drum and ring gear 81 will travel in anti-clockwise rotation, and thus gear 98 will travel in a clockwise direction turning the' threaded shaft 89. Bar 63 will be moved toward the opposite end of the rewind drum and the cable 59 will be wound into the grooves 82 on the drum 89v and will pull the segments 3| to 36 of the telescoping arm'99 into closed relation.

Attached to the sliding bar 6'3'is a stock bracke et I I2 positioned in such a manner that when the cable 50 is substantially completely wound, and the disc 31 is substantially flush with the side Wall of the trailer 2U, the bracket I I2 will engage the Ylower portion II3 of the shaft Illl. Further movement of the bracket II2 against the shaft I I through the yoke i 09, will disengage the fric-` tion disc 96 and stop further rotation of the re- Wind drum 8i). Y

In'a similar manner flexible cable 50' passes over pulley 55', through and around swivel pulley assembly 56', over and around pulley 62', on to rewindV drum S0' provided with a spiral groove 82. The operation of the rewind drum 8U' is accomplishedin a similar manner to that dej;

scribed previously. The operation includes the use of ringgear 87', gear 88', threaded shaft 89', friction disc 85', friction disc S6', sprocket wheel 98', yoke |09', bracket II2, shaft IIO, and pivot III'.

The top end of the rod or shaft" i 5D' is bent over to form a handle to facilitate the operation of the disc member 9B. The bent over portions of the shaft handles iIil and IIS' is made in such a way that they can be grasped simultaneously with one hand.

It will be apparent that, as the starter or operator urges both rods or shafts toward the seat of the trailer, both drums 8l] and 86 will rewind the cables 50 and Eil', thus retracting the segments of the telescoping arms and 3B' within the confines of the tubes 3| and 3l. If the arm 38 was not extended to the same length as the arm 30', it will be apparent that arrn will be retracted to completion before arm 3d is completely retracted, and it will also be apparent that when arm 3B is completely retracted the friction disc S6 will be urged out of engagement with friction disc 85, because of the bracket IIE engaging the lower end IIS of the shaft ili. Thus the handle of the shaft H9 will be urged slightly ahead while pressure may be continued on the handle of shaft IID' until the arm 3d' is also completely retracted.

From the above it can be seen that telescoping arm 39, flexible cable 5) and rewind drum Sil operate independently of the telescoping tube 30', flexible cable 5t' and rewind drum St'. Consequently the starting barrier may be operated with the movable carriage at one side of the track and only one telescoping tube barrier extended, andthe closing of the telescoping tube barrier, as an example tube assembly 36, is accomplished by activating rod or shaft I id causing friction disc 9S to engage friction disc 3B, thus rotating rewind drum 8i). It can also be seen that if, accidentally, rod or shaft Elfi' is urged backward nothing will happen to rewind mechanism 80 because bracket H2 will engage bottom end H3 of shaft II Il' thus preventing engagement of friction disc 96 and friction disc 85. It will also be seen from the above that because of the independent opera-tion of the rewind mechanisms and the telescoping rods, that one rod as an example, telescoping rod Sil, may be extended to its full length while telescoping rod 38' may be eX- tended for a portion of its length and the retraction of the telescoping rods can be activated simultaneously and completely.

From the above it will seem that the starting gate or barrier may be used on any width track or may advantageously be used in such a manner that the contestants are aligned solely behind a telescoping arm and the actual carriage may be over at one side of the track out of the way ofthe 8, contestants. As previously stated, the retraction of the telescoping arms 30 and 30' may be accomplished manually or by the mechanism as previously described or they may be retracted utilizing pneumatic principles.. Similarly the telescoping arms `may be extended manually or byl pneumatic or mechanical means. 4 Thus, Figure 7 shows diagrammatically a sim'- ple arrangement for both extending and retractf ing the telescoping arms by pneumatic control 1 means. For this purpose, the connections between the individual sections 32, 33, etc. and 32,-33',etc. are connected in an air-tight manner by the provision of suitable fluid-tight packings or sealing rings in a manner well known and as indicated inthe drawing. The inner tubes or cylinders 3i? or 30 are mounted upon the movable carrier in the same manner as described hereinbefore and are each connected to a pressure or vacuum tank 4S or 4I respectively, through control valves d2 and 43', to enable a compressed fluid, such as air or oil to be introduced or withdrawn from the cylinders for extending and retracting the telescoping arms, in a manner readif 1y understood and well known in connection with pneumatically operated telescopic devices of this type. The tanks d0 and il I may be connected to a compressor or pump, respectively, driven by the motor of the self-propelled vehicle upon which the device is mounted.

Thus, while the mechanical retracting means for the telescoping starting barrier shown in Figures 1 to 6 have an operation, whereby the telescoping arms have to be extended manually, the pneumatic control of the arms as shown in Figure 7 enables both extension and extraction by the control mechanism.

If it is decided to always operate the telescoping arms 3d and 3D' simultaneously and to extend these arms at the start to the same degree of extension, the actual rewind mechanism can be materially simplied by winding both the cables 5i) and 5G' on the same rewind drum II5, as shown in Figure 5.

YIn the latter, rewind drum I I5 is provided with two spirally cut grooves of sufficient size to accommodate the flexible cables and in this case the swivel pulleys 62 and 62 are mounted on a sliding bar IIS which is adapted to slide on fixed shafts i'! and IIB. The swivel pulleys are the same as previously described and are so positioned on the sliding bar IIS so as to be properly tangent to the grooves on the rewind drum II5. The rewind drum II5 is provided with a ring gear IIS, a small gear |20 fixedly attached to a threaded shaft I2I which is journalled in suitable supports such as previously described in connection with threaded shaft 89 of Figure 3. Threaded shaft HEI is adapted to engage a threaded portion or collar |22 attached to the slide bar IIi.

The operation of the rewind mechanism of Figure 5 is similar to that previously described. Friction clutch 96 is urged into engagement with friction disc 86 by means of yoke IS, fitted in groove Il5 andattached to a shaft which extends above the floor of the carriage. Friction clutch is rotated by a motor (not shown) turning rewind drum II5 and ring gear II9 in an anti-clockwise direction and gear |20 is thus rotated in a clockwise direction rotating threaded shaft I2! and pulling bar IIB toward ring gear IIS. The threads on shaft I2I are provided with the proper lead so as to pull bar IIE at the correct rate. to properly position While the invention has been described bel `ing mounted in 'an automobile trailer, it will be apparent that the starting barrier may be built in, or mounted on any self-propelled vehicle. Thus,V 'in Figure 2B, the telescoping arms 30 and 30 Aand control mechanism therefore are 'shown directly mounted upon the rear of an open or convertible motor car 2a or 2li', other details of the construction and operation being substantially the same as described hereinbefore.

The preferred operation of the starting barrier described consists of manually extending the telescoping arms 30 and 31]', while the contestants are aligning themselves in the rear of the starting barrier, moving the barrier at a gradually increasing rate of speed until the contestants are satisfactorily aligned behind the barrier, maintaining the contestants aligned until they have crossed the starting line, and thereafter speeding up the mobile unit, engaging the clutch to start the rewind mechanism thus retracting the telescoping arms and subsequently guiding the carriage or mobile unit over to the side of the track out of the way of the contestants.

It will be apparent that there are numerous modifications to the broad underlying principles of the invention and that the specificationrand drawings should be considered as descriptive and not limiting the broad scope and spirit of the invention as defined in appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a device for aligning and starting contestants of speed in motion oi the type comprising a movable carrier and a starting barrier mounted thereon and actuatable to and from operative position, said barrier comprising at least one telescopic arm having a plurality of cooperating hollow sections andV mounted upon said carrier in a substantially horizontal position and assente transversely to the longitudinal axis of said carrier, whereby said arm may be variably extended at right angle to the direction of movement of said carrier, and actuating means upon said carrier for retracting said, arm into collapsed position.

2. In a device for aligning and starting contestants of speed in motion of the type comprising a movable carrier and a starting barrier ymounted thereon and actuatable to and from operative position, said barrier comprising a pair of telescoping larms mounted upon said carrier closely adjacent and parallel to each other and in a substantially horizontal position and transversely to the longitudinal axis of said carrier, whereby said arms may be variably extended in opposite directions and at right angles to the direction of movement of said carrier, and actuating means upon said carrier for retracting said arms into collapsed position.

3. In a device for aligning and starting contesi-ants of speed in motion of the type comprising a movable carrier and a starting barrier mounted thereon and actuatable to and from ilo operative position, 'said barrier comprising a pair `of telescoping amisnic'nuused upon said carrier closely adjacent 'and parallel 'to each other and in a substantially horizontal position and transversely to the longitudinal axis of said carrier, 'whereby said arms may be vari'ably extended in opposite directions at right angles to the direction ofr movement 'of said carrier, and. actuating means upon 'said carrier simultaneously retracting both Said arms into collapsed position. y 4. In a device for aligning V"and starting cntestants 'of speed in motion of the type comprising a movable carrier and a starting barrier mounted thereon 'and actuatable to and from operative position, said barrier comprising a pair ofY telescoping arms mounted upon vsaid carrier 'closely adjacent andparallel to each other and in a substantially horizontal position and transversely to the longitudinal axis of said carrier, whereby both said armsmay be 'variably extended in opposite directions at right angles to the direction of movement of said carrier, and actuating means upon said carrier separately and independently retracting said arms into collapsed position.

5. In a device for aligning and starting contestants of speed in motion of the type comprising a movable carrier and a starting barrier mounted thereon and actuatable to and from operative position, said barrier comprising at least one telescoping arm having a plurality of cooperating sections and mounted upon said carrier in a substantially horizontal position and transversely to the longitudinal axis of said carrier, whereby said arm may be variably extended at right angle to the direction of movement of said carrier, and actuating means upon said carrier for extending and retracting said arm.

6. In a device for aligning and starting contestants of speed in motion of the type comprising a movable carrier and a starting barrier mounted thereon and actuatable to and from operative position, said barrier comprising at least one telescoping arm having a plurality of cooperating sections and mounted upon said carrier in substantially horizontal position and transversely to the longitudinal axis of said carrier, whereby said arm may be variably extended at right angle to the direction of movement of said carrier, winding drum means upon said carrier, a cable passing through said arm having one end attached to the outermost section of said arm and having its opposite end secured to said drum, and guide means to wind said cable upon said drum, for retracting said arm from extended to collapsed position.

l7. In a device for aligning and starting contestants of speed in motion comprising a movable carrier and a starting barrier mounted thereon and actuatable to and from operative position, said barrier comprising at least one telescoping arm having a plurality of cooperating sections and mounted upon said carrier in substantially horizontal position and transverse to the longitudinal axis of said Carrier, whereby said arm may be extended at right angle to the direction of movement of said carrier, a rotatable winding drum upon said carrier, a flexible cable passing through said arm having one end secured to the outermost section of said arm and having its opposite end secured to said drum, guide means for said cable, and means for relatively axially moving said drum and guide means while said drum is rotated, to wind said cable upon said drum in adjacent turns, to thereby retract said arm from its extended to its collapsed position.

8. In a device for aligning and starting contestants of speed in motion of the type comprising a movable carrier and a starting barrier mounted thereon and actuatable to and from operative position, said barrier comprising a pair of telescoping arms mounted upon said carrier in a substantially horizontal position and transversely to the longitudinal axis of said carrier, whereby said arms may be extended in opposite directions and at right angle to the direction of movement of said carrier, a pair of rotatable winding drums upon said carrier with means for simultaneously rotating the same, flexible cables passing through said arms each having one end secured to the outermost section of one of said arms and having its opposite end secured to one of said drums, guide means for each of said cables,

and means for relatively axially moving the re- ,2

spective guide means and drums during rotation of the latter, to Wind said cables upon said drums 12 in adjacent turns, to thereby retract said arms from the extended to the collapsed position.

OCTAVE BLAKE.

REFERENCES CITED The -following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS lo Number Name Date 304,104 Hughes Aug. 26, 1884 401,754 McDonald Apr. 23, 1889 647,166 Stedeker Apr. 10, 1900 673,997 Chapman May 14, 1901 15 1,735,385 Fischer Nov. 12, 1929 2,128,712 Neff Aug. 30, 1938 2,324,614 Dalton July 20, 1943 2,329,404 Mace Sept. 14, 1943 0 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date Great Britain Mar. 7, 1934 

